About the Spring Literary Festival at Ohio University

Since 1986, The Spring Literary Festival has featured some of the world's finest, most distinguished writers of poetry, fiction and non-fiction. The three-day festival is held in April on the Ohio University main campus in Athens, OH.

The festival is sponsored by the Creative Writing program in the English Department and is generously funded by the College of Arts & Sciences. All readings and lectures are free and open to the public.

The five visiting writers are present throughout the festival, lecturing and reading from their work, and books by the authors are available for purchase after each program, and at Little Professor Book Center in Athens.

For more information, contact David Wanczyk, Spring Literary Festival Coordinator.

Recent Events

Learn more about Laura Kasischke’s work and Lit Fest events. By Madison Foltz The Poetry Foundation describes Laura Kasischkes poetry as noted for its intelligent, honest portrayal of domestic and familial life, its explosively accurate imagery and dense soundscapes, and its idiosyncratic use of narrative. No poem of hers encapsulates […]

Learn more about Mark Doty’s work and Lit Fest events here. by Tatiana Radujkovic The poet Mark Doty ensnares moments of plain humanity in stanzas of striking beauty, and his Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems identifies and explores the world that surrounds us with a drollness, but also […]

Learn more about Kiese Laymon’s work and Lit Fest events By Madison Foltz Kiese Laymon begins Heavy with the insistence that he wanted to write a lie. But he then lists every reason why that lie was not worth writing. He doesnt want to lie because he needs to be […]

Ohio University’s Spring Literary Festival is April 3 to 5. One of this year’s featured authors is Stephanie Powell Watts, who won the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence for her debut story collection,We Are Taking Only What We Need(2012), also named one of 2013s Best Summer Reads byO: […]

Ohio University’s Spring Literary Festival will take place April 3 through April 5. One of this year’s featured authors is Claire Vaye Watkins was born in Bishop, California in 1984. She was raised in the Mojave Desert, in Tecopa, California and Pahrump, Nevada. A graduate of the University of Nevada […]

Ohio University’s Spring Literary Festival is April 3 to 5. One of this year’s featured authors is poet and novelist Laura Kasischke, who was born in Grand Rapids, Mich., and teaches in the MFA program at the University of Michigan. Her books of poetry includeWild Brides(1992),Fire and Flower(1998),Dance and Disappear(2002),Gardening […]

Ohio University’s Spring Literary Festival is April 3 to 5. One of this year’s featured authors is Mark Doty, who is the author of several collections of poetry, most recentlyDeep Lane(W. W. Norton, 2015);A Swarm, A Flock, A Host: A Compendium of Creatures(Prestel, 2013);Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems(HarperCollins, […]

Ohio University’s Spring Literary Festival is April 3 to 5. One of this year’s featured authors is Kiese Laymon, a black southern writer, born and raised in Jackson, Miss. Laymon attended Millsaps College and Jackson State University before graduating from Oberlin College. He earned an MFA in Fiction from Indiana […]

The2018 Spring Literary Festivalwelcomes authorAlan Shapirofor a reading onWednesday, April 11, at 8:30 p.m., and for a lecture on Thursday, April 12, at noon. Both events will be held inWalter Hall Rotunda. By Derek J. G. Williams Graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. in Creative Writing: Poetry I cant embrace the […]